Looking for Marco Polo
by Alan Armstrong
Non-series
Random House Books for Young Readers
ISBN-10: 0-375-83321-8
ISBN-13: 978-0-375-83321-2
Publication Date: September, 2009
List Price: $16.99
Review: Have you ever dreamed about becoming an anthropologist or an explorer? Alan Armstrong twists history and fiction to create Looking for Marco Polo . When Mark Hearn’s father goes missing on a trip to track Marco Polo’s footprints in the Gobi Desert, Mark (a 12 year old boy who likes to be adventuress) becomes an explorer himself.
Mark and his mom travel to Venice, Italy to contact the agency Mr. Hearn works for to try to find him, but on the trip Mark falls ill. Dr.Hornaday (a friend of Mr. Hearn in Venice) comes to take care of Mark in the hotel where he is staying. Dr.Hornaday brings Boss, a huge, black, magical dog who tells stories to Mark at night about his ancestors who traveled with Marco Polo. One story is when Marco and Boss’s great grandfather gets trapped in a sandstorm. Sometimes the rats in the hotel will help Boss tell the stories too! When Mrs. Hearn leaves to go to the agency, Dr.Hornaday and Mark go to the many vendors and shops to see if they could find a Christmas present for themselves. In Venice, and they also explore the wonders of Venice just like Mr. Hearn in the Gobi Desert.
Honestly I can say nothing bad about this book. There were no inappropriate words, scenes or pictures throughout the book. The author did not use a lot of super long, hard words so kids my age and younger could read it and follow along with what is happening. I liked how the writer makes me feel like I am in Venice with Mark and in the stories Boss tells. I also liked that I could learn about Venice and all of the people and cultures there as well as learn about Marco Polo’s life and adventures. I felt like I was in a history class sometimes with all of the information about Marco Polo. It was fun to think that I was at school in my social studies class while reading a book. It was great for my age level and everybody in the world should have a copy of Looking for Marco Polo .
Review written by Sheila (6th grade student).
We would like to thank Random House for providing a copy of Looking for Marco Polo for this review.
Have you read Looking for Marco Polo? How would you rate it?
I guess you really can't jugde a book by it's cover, at first glance the book Looking for Marco Polo is a bit childish, but Sheila your review proved to me that even if a book looks childish it doesn't mean that its a bad book. If fact looking at the ratings of people who have read this and it's a five so obviously this book is captivating, informative, and generally a great book. Excellent job Sheila!
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